Bill is a retired aircraft engineer, who in his own right has an interesting background. We discovered that his wife Phyllis, spends a goodly portion of her time, mind and energy writing and/or illustrating children's books. We were at their cabin for a bit, earlier today. It is fascinating to see and hear how a children's book goes from an idea to a finished product that parents read to their children, just like we did and sometimes still do. To date she has had 17 books to her credit.
As a printer I was interested to see how the book progresses from a sketch or two, to back and forth drafts and proofs until finally it goes to press. The process can take over two years.
Phyllis is an extremely talented and gracious lady. I cannot wait for Barbara, our niece who joins us at Istanbul in 35 days, to meet her. Barbara is also an artist in her own right and would be interested to know that Phyllis did her first children's book at age 50. So not to worry Barb, you have a head start. I will not say by how many years though.
Phyllis is doing the rough sketches for her next book on this cruise, she has to get down to serious business in June. The book may be in print in 2011.
CHANGE lN SUBJECT:
Where is BORNEO? Look at a map of the world. Go to the left side of Australia. Above Australia are a bunch of long stringy islands, [that is Indonesia, ignore them]. Half way between the top left of Australia and straight up to the the mainland of China is a big island. That is Borneo. [Also it seems Sarawak at one time.]
Borneo used to be the home of head-hunters and the name Borneo still conjures up images of primitive natives with bones in their noses, to me at least. [Is that racist?] That is all gone now and it is a very important part of the world down here, economically and strategically. Part of the island is Malaysia, and part is Indonesia, and a very, very tiny two bits of it are the 'Sultanate of Brunei', an independent Islamic state. Obviously ruled by a Sultan, one of the ten richest men in the world. Oil, you know! Apparently the Sultan passed law in 1962 that raised him to the status of the Pope, in that 'He can do no wrong'. He appointed his brother Finance Minister, who eventually embezzled $15,000,000,000 from the country and is now in London fighting the charges.
I wonder if there will be an independent Brunei 20 years from now. The current population is about 300,000.
We hope to get out and about tomorrow with the Cutler's, on one of our 'pot-luck, crap-shoot' trips. Moe is on a ship's tour.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the penalty for drug trafficking in Brunei is death. [Do you ever wonder why kids travelling the world get into such sticky situations?] Also folks, women cannot drive in Brunei.
The dress for tomorrow is as follows: 'Modestly with most of the upper body covered. Ladies must wear head scarves in Mosques. Shoes off. An abbreviation of the aforementioned may be considered impolite anywhere other than a beach.' Darn it, I cannot wait until our wives have to wear Burkas!
After Brunei our picnic is over and we have a port every other day for the next two weeks. That includes Manila, Hong Kong, three ports in Viet Nam, then Singapore. We have two day stays in Hong Kong and Singapore.
If we all get to wear the burkha, how can we be expected to hold the other end of the piece of lumber or just cut it to size and shape. Imagine the burkhad wife building the cabin.
ReplyDeleteDream on, Doug.
Love to you both for the rest of the trip. See you in May
Lyn and Rod